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| The Seven Devils Playwrights Conference | |
|---|---|
| Name | The Seven Devils Playwrights Conference |
| Formation | 1990s |
| Type | Arts organization |
| Headquarters | McCall, Idaho |
| Region served | United States |
The Seven Devils Playwrights Conference is an annual retreat for playwrights, dramaturgs, directors, and actors held in McCall, Idaho, focusing on play development, readings, and mentorship. Founded in the late 1990s, the conference has attracted emerging and established figures from American theater and served as a laboratory for new scripts that later appeared on regional, Off-Broadway, and Broadway stages. Activities typically include staged readings, panels, and collaborations that connect participants to broader networks in the performing arts.
The conference was initiated by a coalition of artists and institutions responding to the needs articulated in forums such as National Playwrights Conference, Playwrights Horizons, New Dramatists, Eugene O'Neill Theater Center, and Terry Southern-era salons. Early years featured participants connected to Actors Studio, Steppenwolf Theatre Company, Royal Court Theatre, La MaMa Experimental Theatre Club, and graduate programs like Yale School of Drama, Juilliard School, and Brown University's Trinity Repertory Company affiliates. Over time the event became a site where writers associated with awards such as the Pulitzer Prize for Drama, Tony Award, Obie Award, MacArthur Fellowship, and Whiting Award convened alongside recipients of grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, Guggenheim Foundation, and Ford Foundation. Collaborations and guest artists have included theater-makers linked to Stevie Wonder-adjacent musicals, directors connected to Lincoln Center Theater, and scholars from institutions like Columbia University, New York University, and University of Iowa's Iowa Writers' Workshop.
The conference states goals resonant with initiatives from Kennedy Center, Carnegie Mellon University School of Drama, and California Institute of the Arts: to develop scripts, train artists, and foster production pathways. Program strands mirror practices at Theatre Communications Group, National New Play Network, and festivals like Humana Festival of New American Plays, including staged readings, dramaturgy labs, and public panels featuring artists from Shakespeare Theatre Company, Goodman Theatre, Arena Stage, Geffen Playhouse, and Oregon Shakespeare Festival. Curricular elements draw from the pedagogy of practitioners affiliated with August Wilson-era ensembles, writers connected to Marsha Norman, Suzan-Lori Parks, David Mamet, Tony Kushner, Lynn Nottage, and institutions such as The Public Theater and Roundabout Theatre Company.
Residencies typically mirror formats used by Sundance Institute labs, MacDowell Colony, and Yaddo, combining private development time with public presentations. Participants work under the guidance of dramaturgs and directors with credits at Broadway, Off-Broadway, West End, and companies like Piven Theatre Workshop and Steppenwolf. Workshops incorporate methodologies popularized by figures associated with Jerzy Grotowski, Anne Bogart, Lee Strasberg, Stella Adler, and institutions like Royal Shakespeare Company and Complicité. Playwrights leave with revised drafts, production plans, and connections to producers from Manhattan Theatre Club, Second Stage Theater, Alliance Theatre, and individual artistic directors formerly of Mark Taper Forum and Center Theatre Group.
Alumni have gone on to affiliations and premieres at Lincoln Center, Public Theater, Atlantic Theater Company, Signature Theatre, Goodman Theatre, Steppenwolf, Roundabout Theatre Company, and The Old Vic. Playwrights associated with the conference later received honors including the Pulitzer Prize for Drama, Tony Award for Best Play, Obie Award, Drama Desk Award, and New York Drama Critics' Circle citations. Productions developed there have toured to venues such as Berkeley Repertory Theatre, Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company, McCarter Theatre Center, Seattle Rep, Portland Center Stage, and international festivals like Edinburgh Festival Fringe and Auckland Arts Festival.
Organizational leadership has included artistic directors and administrators with backgrounds at Yale Repertory Theatre, Arena Stage, Viewpoint Theatre, Playwrights Horizons, The Juilliard School, and university theaters like University of Washington School of Drama and Northwestern University's Cherubs program. Advisory boards have featured playwrights, directors, and producers tied to Tony Kushner, August Wilson, David Henry Hwang, Suzan-Lori Parks, Mike Leigh, Sam Shepard, Paula Vogel, Edward Albee, and managers from entities such as SAG-AFTRA and Actors' Equity Association.
Funding sources and partners reflect models used by National Endowment for the Arts, NEA Grants, and private foundations including Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, Rockefeller Foundation, Guggenheim Foundation, Ford Foundation, and regional arts agencies like Idaho Commission on the Arts. Collaborations extend to residency hosts like McCall, Idaho civic groups, regional theaters, and academic partners such as University of Idaho, Boise State University, Cornish College of the Arts, and summer programs similar to Tanglewood and Aspen Music Festival and School in cross-disciplinary initiatives.
Critics and commentators from publications and institutions such as The New York Times, The Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, Variety, American Theatre Magazine, The New Yorker, The Guardian, and arts critics affiliated with Columbia University and New York University have noted the conference's role in shaping new American plays and fostering careers. The conference is credited with helping scripts secure commissions, regional productions, and transfers to major stages, influencing programming at companies like Merrimack Repertory Theater, People's Light, Huntington Theatre Company, Pittsburgh Public Theater, and festivals including Humana Festival and Spoleto Festival USA. Scholars tracing contemporary dramaturgy reference its model alongside initiatives at New Dramatists, Eugene O'Neill Theater Center, and Playwrights Realm.
Category:American theatre companies